By Sarah O'Connor | Reuters – 1 hr 33 mins ago
DUBLIN (Reuters) - An Irish woman terminally ill with multiple sclerosis lost her battle for the lawful right to die in the first case of its kind to be brought in Ireland, Dublin's High Court said on Thursday.
Marie Fleming, a 59-year-old former university lecturer who is completely paralyzed, made an impassioned plea last month to establish the right of her partner of 18 years to help her die, an act that could currently see him jailed in mainly Roman Catholic Ireland.
A 'right to die' debate has played out through recent high-profile court cases in neighboring Britain, where three people all failed in bids to win legal assistance to die. Assisted suicide is only permitted in four European countries: Belgium; Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Judge Nicholas Kearns said Fleming was the most remarkable witness any member of the court had encountered and acknowledged that her life has been "rendered miserable" after being "ravaged by an insidious disease".
However he said it would be impossible to tailor legislation governing assisted suicide on an individual basis and doing so would be harmful to the public interest in protecting the most vulnerable members of society.
"There are no words to express the difficulty we had in arriving at this decision," Kearns said, reading a summary of the 121-page judgment.
"Yet the fact remains that if this court were to unravel a thread of this law by even the most limited constitutional adjudication in her favor, it would - or at least might - open a Pandora's box which would be impossible to close."
"VERY SADDENED"
Suicide was decriminalized in Ireland in 1993, but the ban on helping someone to commit suicide remains, with a jail sentence of up to 14 years.
Kearns said he felt sure the state, which agreed to pay all legal costs, would exercise its discretion in a humane and sensitive fashion in deciding whether to prosecute if Fleming were to be assisted in taking her own life.
The mother of two adult children had told the court in a composed manner last month how her life had become totally undignified and too painful to bear, and said she had planned every detail, including funeral arrangements.
Her partner hugged and kissed her after the judgment was handed out and, reading a statement on her behalf outside the court, her solicitor said Fleming greatly appreciated the enormous support she had received from members of the public.
"Obviously Marie is very disappointed and saddened at today's outcome, and feels it would be inappropriate at the present time to discuss any specific legal aspects of the case having regard to the likelihood of an appeal," solicitor Bernadette Parte said.
A recent poll found that large majorities of west Europeans favor the legalization of assisted suicide.
As well as in the four European countries, assisted suicide is also legal in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington.
The issue of amending the Irish constitution has also been highlighted recently following the death of a woman who was refused an abortion of her dying fetus, re-igniting a debate that has divided the country for decades.
(Reporting by Sarah O'Connor; Writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Louise Ireland and Jason Webb)

Anyone that has ever had an elderly and sick parent knows how tough something like is to deal with but, if it were me, I would want to be able to make my own decision. If I was not competent to do so, I would want my have my wife and kids make that decision for me. I guess that shows I’m a irresponsible for not having my wishes in writing.

Anyone that has ever had an elderly and sick parent knows how tough something like is to deal with but, if it were me, I would want to be able to make my own decision. If I was not competent to do so, I would want my have my wife and kids make that decision for me. I guess that shows I’m a irresponsible for not having my wishes in writing.

Sounds reasonable. Better yet would be a special session of Congress and a meddling R party passing legislation just for you.
/Terry Schiavo

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Anyone that has ever had an elderly and sick parent knows how tough something like is to deal with but, if it were me, I would want to be able to make my own decision. If I was not competent to do so, I would want my have my wife and kids make that decision for me. I guess that shows I’m a irresponsible for not having my wishes in writing.

Have you ever watched a loved one waste away to nothing in a nursing home? It's horrible. My grandmother died in a nursing home, and the last three years she was alive she didn't know anything or anybody. Spent her days babbling to a doll and shitting herself. Smothering her with a pillow would have been a kindness.

I'm convinced that the only reason keeping these lifeless shells alive is the norm is how much money the heathcare industry makes off prolonging their (so called) lives.

Have you ever watched a loved one waste away to nothing in a nursing home? It's horrible.

Yes, my mother—just not in a nursing home. I just don't believe any person has a right to take another life and we only kill in self-defense not because it's convenient or for quality of life reasons. That's the Useless Eaters argument.

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I'm convinced that the only reason keeping these lifeless shells alive is the norm is how much money the heathcare industry makes off prolonging their (so called) lives.

Well, I do not support continued medical care prolonging their life beyond the natural process of dying—( aside from food and water if they can take it in). That's another argument.

I just think it's dangerous to advocate actively taking the life or another or getting another to do it—for any reason beyond defense. That's what a right to die is. Not a right for someone else to kill them.

It's gotten so bad in Holland, that some people won't check into hospitals because the doctors decide and they pull the plug. What will it be next? Infanticide because there's something wrong with them. That's the same useless eaters argument again and it's dangerous for the rest of us. Think it through....like when someone may want to off someone but the can use as an excuse that the person wanted them to kill them to put them out of the pain or misery. We don't kill people as if they animals.

Ireland is a Catholic country so they don't believe any person has this right as well.

Frontline recently had an episode about Right to Die in the US. It was extremely sad to watch.

If someone's saying the pain is too great and the only end of it is their death, they have a right to stop it in a more respectful, comforting way than cocktail of pills that may not work or cause even more pain in their final moments, or something that will cause them to have a closed casket.

Frontline recently had an episode about Right to Die in the US. It was extremely sad to watch.

If someone's saying the pain is too great and the only end of it is their death, they have a right to stop it in a more respectful, comforting way than cocktail of pills that may not work or cause even more pain in their final moments, or something that will cause them to have a closed casket.

Where is this right stipulated?

What about getting others to do this killing? Where is that right stipulated?

As far as I know, the right to life is an inalienable one—which means no one has a right to take it away. It cannot be transferred.